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]]]]]]]]]]]]] ANIMALS FOR ANIMALS [[[[[[[[[[[[[[
(2/19/90)
[Kindly uploaded by Freeman 10602PANC]
Dear Dr Beckmann: Animal ``rights'' must pay well! The following
is from the very slickly produced The Animal's Voice Magazine.
It is printed on heavy clay-coated stock and is superior to say
`National Geographic' as an example of the printer's skill.
Editorially, the magazine slants toward the pathology of `animal
rights'. The piece I've uploaded shows how commonplace and taken
for granted is the manipulation of the media.
Regards, Oleg Panczenko (Freeman 10602PANC).
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Direct Action: Taking It To the Streets
by Jack Carone and Mary McDonald-Lewis
Putting it on the Line -- and in Front of the Camera:
Staging Civil Disobedience Today
[From The Animal's Voice Magazine, V. 2, No. 5 (1990), p. 73]
[Two paragraphs giving thumbnail sketches of historical and
current American civil disobedience omitted.]
Our challenge is to leverage off the growing legitimacy of the
strategy [civil disobedience], while devising new ways to keep
civil disobedience original and powerful. All movements that
succeed always move from the radical fringe to the majority
middle ground. The anti-war movement may have begun on campus,
but its passion and staunchly held position soon rescued the
parents of those dissident students -- and that was the beginning
of the end. Now we can use the mainstream population to outreach
to more homemakers, tradespeople, professionals, and the rest of
the sleeping activists out there. One way to do this is to give
antivivisectionists with mainstream appeal high-visibility
positions, such as media spokespersons at actions. Sometimes
that takes a little tutoring; public speaking may not be a
homebody's forte. It takes a little effort on everybody's part,
but it alerts the citizens that this movement belongs to
everyone.
Creating civil disobedience actions in today's media climate
takes a lot more effort. Presenting demands, linking arms in
front of a building and refusing to leave has been done. It's
old news unlikely to recruit new activists. As a campaign is
built, certain questions should be asked. Should a direct action
be staged, that does not challenge any laws, or should arrests be
risked with civil disobedience? WHat have you sought to
accomplish by your previous actions, and how could you accomplish
this another way? Has the best site been chosen for impact on
the public, such as most money wasted through grants, most
obviously unsound experimentation, greatest numbers of animals
used or clearly horrific experiments? Has enough planning and
surveillance been done to assure familiarity in layout, timing
and with personnel? Have clearly states, reasonable, powerful
demands been developed -- ones which cast a bad light on any
facility's refusal to consider them? Can the action be geared to
reveal significant information to the media and public? How will
the action look on camera? Has the ideal team or teams been
selected for the job? Have the legal ramifications been explored
with counsel, and arrangements made for any legal complications
which may arise the day of the action? Finally, what makes the
action unique -- what makes it stand out on the news, and reach
out to the people.
There will be times when non-violent bodily resistance will be
inevitable, but there will be other occasions when extra
creativity may have to be called into play -- particularly in the
light of the massive amount of recent well-publicized events by
other movements. To determine your own course of action,
assemble the most imaginative minds available for some ``what
if?'' sessions. The goal should be to break out of set patterns
of thought and activity. Put yourself in the media's shoes, and
decide what will make a story exciting enough to warrant sending
a busy news crew to your action. Civil disobedience actions
offer media exposure without direct advertising costs, but can be
expensive later on in terms of legal fees and other necessary
expenditures. Sometimes ads placed at strategic times and in
strategic places is a better economic move. Last Chance for
Animals' ``Vivisector of the Week'' series of ads, which included
photo, research statistics and office phone number, was a
powerful addition to their World Animal Liberation Week strategy.
Press conferences designed to draw attention to targets can also
be effective. One group significantly diminished the press
conference held by the opposition, by countering the target's
claims with a spokesperson and plenty of pictures and facts just
outside the press room as the media left.
Target mailings can be a powerful direct action. If you can
obtain a mailing list of major donors to your target from one of
your insiders, go directly to the source of the money which is
used to abuse. Make certain that you present your case to the
donors in an accurate and thoroughly researched manner. You may
get some hostile feedback, for you have challenged the
assumptions of the truest believers, but imagine the potential
impact and ripple effect if you can convince even one person or
corporation that they should withhold support. This strategy has
had real success in Southern California with one of the largest
of the vivisection industry's [sic] as the target. Peaceful
``soft'' confrontations with people who engage in
institutionalized abuse may stir some conflict with the
individual doctor and/or within the group's infrastructure. If
the circumstances are sufficiently dramatic, the media will be
almost certain to attend. In a pre-dawn direct action, Last
Chance for Animals confronted a busload of doctors and
technicians bound for a hands-on laser-surgery seminar, complete
with dogs for target [sic] practice. The team was hand-picked,
as the action was risky, and no support unit was used. The
activists assembled in front of the bus and slowed it to a crawl
(stopping it would have been a serious crime, their pre-action
legal research showed). The spokesperson then was able to
dialogue with the passengers at great length, and the media
captured the whole event for the day's news. Using another
tactic, anonymous activists in Los Angeles saturated that city
last April with large graphic posters of a head transplant
experiment, to strong effect.
[Concluding two exhortatory paragraphs omitted.]
[The following is not part of the original article.]
``Reprinted from The Animal's Voice Magazine, P.O. Box 341347,
Los Angeles, CA 90034 / 1-800-82-VOICE.''
The Animal's Voice Magazine is published bi-monthly by the
Compassion for Animals Foundation, Inc., 3960 Landmark Street,
Culver City, CA 90232; (213) 204-2323.
* * *
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